One of the most significant failure modes in the testing of integrated circuit modules is the damage incurred by the repeated plugging and unplugging of the device under test. And one of the most significant consumers of indirect labor time is the manual operation of plugging and unplugging the module when it is being tested. What is needed is a mechanism which can automatically pick the module from the supply tray and test it while the module is being moved to either the good receptacle or the bad receptacle.
Robotic testers have been disclosed in the prior art and are typified by the following.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,132,318 discloses a computer controlled manipulator having sensors on the fingers to obtain orientation information.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,368,913 discloses an industrial robot having a gripping device but no testing mechanism as a part of the gripping device.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,958,740 discloses a programmable manipulation machine which is capable of picking up small components such as semiconductor chips, and placing them on a substrate. There is no real time testing provided.
However, none of these references to the prior art provides an adequate solution to the problem of automatically picking an integrated circuit module from a supply tray and testing it while the module is being moved to either a good or bad receptacle.